


The Princess and the Panther

by shaggydiz



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F, Freeform - Monochrome, Novella, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 10:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15727650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaggydiz/pseuds/shaggydiz
Summary: Cursed by the witch Salem, the Beasts of Vale march an army to the gates of Mantle to bring her to justice.Sentenced to death, the Princess of Atlas rides to face the Beasts.A short medieval novella about how the Princess and the Panther meet and fall in love.





	The Princess and the Panther

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the first chapter of an idea that's been brewing in my head for a few months. Feedback appreciated!

                “There you are Blake!  I was wondering where you went to!”

                The young woman turned, seeing Yang, her friend and comrade-in-arms, land on the summit of the cliff that she found herself.  Blake spotted Ruby, Yang’s younger half-sister, approaching behind the blonde-haired woman.

                “I wanted a good vantage point for the battle,” she remarked.  Her ears – cat-like furry appendages, marking her as a faunus – pointed into the valley below.  The trio set their gazes upon their army, moving into ranks and formations: shield bearers lined the front rows, with archers hidden behind those shields.  Swords and spears set in tight formation behind them, and at the rear, mounted knights stood watch, their shields set to one arm and a sword or mace hanging on the other.  Scattered throughout were catapults, trebuchets, and assault towers.  All told, their army – a collective of humans and faunus from Vale, Vacuo, and Menagerie, brought together by the trio – were over fifty thousand strong.

                A thousand yards ahead of them stood the walls of Mantle, and within them, Castle Schnee.

                “Do you think she’s really there?” Ruby asked.

                “I hope so,” Blake replied.  “We’ve fought long and hard to get to this point.”

                “I can’t wait to punch her… or eat her up!” Yang said, laughing loudly.

                Blake shook her head.  “I don’t think eating Salem will remove the curse, Yang.”

                “There’s only one way to find out!” Yang said, grinning.

                Ruby sat on the ground, her gaze traveling over the fortified city.  “It’s been, what, a year since we’ve set out on this?”

                Blake nodded.  “This is the best lead we’ve gotten.  Only one way to find out though.”

                “I don’t think King Schnee has taken kindly to us invading Atlas,” Ruby commented.

                “No, but then again, he shouldn’t be harboring the witch, nor should he have started this war in the first place,” Blake offered.

                Yang sat down and relaxed, extending her legs out.  “Well, whenever the time is right, I’m ready to storm Mantle.”

                “Me too,” Ruby seconded, relaxing in much the same way as her sister.

                Blake sighed.  “Catching the summer sun in the middle of a battle?  Why am I friends with you again?”

                Yang looked at her, aghast.  “You wound me, my best friend.  How could you forget how we met at Vale?  Or how quickly the three of us became best of friends?  Or how we swore a blood oath to strike down the witch Salem?”

                Oh, Blake remembered all right.  Their meeting was almost fated: their respective families – Blake, of the Belladonnas, and Yang, of the Xiao-Long/Rose clans – sent them off to Vale, unbeknownst to the other, in hopes of instilling knowledge and strength.  They crossed paths in Forever Fall, as they came across Grimm after Grimm, and together, with Blake’s short sword and tether, Gambol Shroud, and Yang’s Ember Celica, a pair of well worn but vicious cestuses, the pair beat back and drove off the lore beasts.  They turned to each other, exhausted and covered in black blood, and smiled and laughed at their victory.

                _“Yang,”_ the blonde greeted as they recovered.

                “ _Blake… welcome to Vale, I guess?_ ”  There was a response from Yang about how she was already familiar with Vale, being from the small island of Patch, and how she’d make a good guide to the best food and drink by the harbor.  They shook hands then, still covered in Grimm blood, and smiled.

                Shortly thereafter, Blake met Ruby, her rambunctious little sister, and together, the three of them were the best in their class, both in classroom studies and in various forms of combat.  They were like that for two years…

                “Just think,” Yang said, cutting into Blake’s memories.  “We would have been starting our fourth year at Vale and preparing to become journeyman huntresses.  Instead, we’re leading an army to the steps of Mantle.  I never expected that.”

                “Me neither,” Ruby said.  They both turned to Blake, noticing right away that something was off.

                “What is it?  What are you seeing?” Yang asked.

                “There’s action at the main gates.  They’re opening.”

                Far off in the distance, the gates were indeed opening.  Finally, Blake thought, they could get this battle going.  The enemy would call ranks and file ten deep to protect the gates, and then someone with an itchy bow finger would inadvertently fire, the arrow landing nowhere close to anyone but signifying the start of the battle.

                Then the trio would commence the battle and finish the blood oath they swore to each other from over a year ago.

                Instead…

                “What’s this?” Blake asked, sounding confused.

                “What’s happening?” the sister’s asked.

                “This isn’t right.  They’re only sending one person out.  She’s well armored.”

                “ _She?_ ”

                Blake nodded.  “I can see long hair from her helm.  Long white hair… wait, white?”

                “Aren’t the Schnee’s all white haired?” Yang asked.  All three of them watched the figure, riding in on horseback, approaching and coming to within a few hundred yards of the army’s front lines.  The rider pivoted the horse around before settling down, facing the army.  The helm remained over the rider’s face, but Blake could hear clear as day from their position what the rider was saying.

                “Yang, get us down there.”

                “On it!”  The blonde stood up and stretched her limbs and back out.  Then, making sure her comrades were a fair distance away, she began her transformation…

                from Yang the brawler…

                to _Yang the dragon_.

                The blonde warrior grew two, three, four times her original size at least, as her clothes magically faded into her body.  Her arms became wings, with sharp claws grasping the rock beneath her.  Her neck stretched, and her face elongated, until she looked like a giant lizard.  Her nostrils flared as she whipped her newly grown tail around.  Her hair remained, though they were no longer waves and curls but straight juts of yellow gold extending out of her back and along her neck.

                The golden dragon roared, and the army below roared in response.

                “Climb aboard!” the dragon rumbled, though her mouth did not move.

                Blake and Ruby climbed onto Yang’s back, and once they had a firm grasp, she launched into the sky and swooped down to the battlefield below.

 

* * *

 

 

                The Princess, Weiss Schnee, did not expect her death sentence to be in the form of an invading army.

                Yet those were the words spoken by her father a week before, as she stood before him in shame, chains around her neck and wrists.  She was presented to him in his throne room, with her younger brother, Whitley, standing by his side, his all-too-knowing smile scrawled onto his face.  Her older sister, Winter, was nowhere close to her, exiled long ago by the witch’s machinations and the king’s folly.

                “The invaders are coming to our doorstep, Weiss,” he said from his throne.  “Defeat the three beasts and I may… consider pardoning you for your crimes against the throne.”

                _The only one who’s committed crimes is you, father._

                It did not matter though.  She hoped to dispose of her father by separating him from the witch, but the witch was cunning, far more than she cared to admit.  A week spent in the dungeons before this sham of a trial, then another week before the horns sounded.

                “They’ve arrived,” a guard said as he opened her cell door.  He gave her a loaf of bread as she exited.

                _They kept me fed, at least._

                The guards brought Weiss back to her room, where several servants awaited.  Together, they stripped and washed the former Princess, braided her hair, then dressed her in simple pants and linens before adorning her armor.  The house banner – a twelve-pointed snowflake impaled by a sword – remained on her breastplate.

                _They’ll let me die a Schnee, at least._

                Her breastplate was fixed, followed by her pelvis, legs, boots, and arms.  Her helm awaited, though she would carry that until she was ready to mount.  Her Myrtenaster – a Damascus-struck rapier forged in the volcanos of Anima – was fastened and hung from her right hip, along with a short blade.

                Weiss was escorted out of her room, through the halls and out the front of Castle Schnee, where her horse awaited her, along with Klein, the head servant of the castle.  He bowed to her, ever so slightly, and she did the same.  She kept him out of her foolish attempt of murder, though it was now up to him to finish the job.  He would bide his time, she knew.

                She mounted her horse.  As she strode forward, Weiss looked back, first to the awaiting servants, then up, finding her father, looking down at her with nothing but contempt.  Whitley again stood by his side.

                And somewhere, in the shadows, was that damned witch.

                _If I survive this, I will hunt you down and gut you myself._

                It was the witch that started it all, Weiss remembered as she left the castle gates and rode through the city of Mantle.  She came to her father with a simple offer: I can help you rule the world.  She whispered words of gold and glory.

                And so her father decided that yes, ruling the world under the Schnee banner was indeed a good thing, a glorious thing.  He raised an army, calling on all houses of Atlas, and they built warships and transports.  They set sale across the sea, launching a strike against Vale.  They were repelled, barely, but the deed was done.  The witch, facing three unknown warriors, defeated them soundly and cursed them.

                “The Three Beasts of Vale is what they are called,” Winter told her, a month before her exile.

                The army moved on, getting a foothold on the western shores of Anima, but they were soon in retreat.  The Beasts raised an army and sunk and stole many Atlesian ships, and six months ago they landed on the shores of Atlas and pushed inward.

                All that separated Weiss from the army was the city’s main gates, guarded by Mantle’s defenders.  She looked around the embankments, finding archers and swordsmen and oil strikers and trebuchets, but also commoners, conscripted at the last moment to hold the gates.

                _The first to run as the gates fall_ , she thought to herself.

                She pulled her helm over her head, catching a glimpse of the General, James Ironwood, as he barked out orders.  No doubt he spotted her too.

                His death would be especially sweet, she realized.  He was the lapdog to the king himself, evil and corrupted just as much as her father.  His death would demoralize the city’s defenders greatly.

                Her helm fastened, Weiss nodded to the guard controlling the gates.  “Let me through,” she commanded.

                The gates, old and made of great oak and steel, slowly creaked opened.  It left enough room for her to ride through before it was shut behind her.

                Ahead of her was the invading army, loud and anxious for the coming battle.

                Weiss steeled herself and rode out, cutting through the unusually thick grass covering the field, and coming to within a few hundred yards of the front lines.  She brought her horse to a stop and calmed him down before she spoke, as clear as day through her helm.

                “I demand one on one combat with the Beasts of Vale!  If I am victorious, you shall leave our lands forever, and Atlas will never invade you again.  If the Beasts are victorious, Atlas is yours!”

                The battlefield was silent for several long agonizing moments as she awaited a response.  Where were the Beasts?  Shouldn’t they be among the front lines, rousing their troops?

                And then a vicious roar was heard, up on the cliffs at the edge of the valley.  To Weiss, it sounded like a dragon’s roar.  The army, thousands strong, roared back in acknowledgement, and the sound threatened to push her back.  She looked towards the cliffs, and what she saw made her heart drop:

                A golden dragon, dozens of feet long, taking to the sky and coming straight for her.

                She made for her sword but held still, keeping her hand hovering over the pommel.  What could a sword do against a dragon of all things?

                The only thing that could save her now was her Inheritance, and even that might not be enough.

                Weiss tracked the dragon as it flew, watching as it landed a hundred yards from her.  It bent low to let off its passengers, both women, both looking dangerous.

                Both human.

                _They are the Beasts as well?_

                The woman in red looked more like a child than anything else, though the reaper blade she had strapped to her back looked ruthless.  She might be the more dangerous of the two; Weiss didn’t know for sure though, as she’s only heard the legends of how brutal all three were.

                The woman in black lead the way, and Weiss couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, from the black hair that flowed freely along her shoulders, to the cat ears on edge on the top of her head.  She caught a glimpse of the short sword that was adorned to the woman’s side and figured it to be as dangerous a weapon as her own Myrtenaster.

                Weiss kicked her horse forward, stopping when she was within ten yards of the Beasts.

                “What do you think Blake?” she heard the dragon rumble.  “Should I eat her now and get this over with?”

                “What is it with you and eating people Yang?” the black-haired woman said, turning and glaring at the dragon behind her.

                The dragon stood on her hind legs and extended her wings.  “I’m a dragon.  I’m supposed to eat people!”

                “Not when she challenged us to trial by combat,” the cat faunus informed her.

                “Oh!  That’s what she was saying?” spoke the woman in red.  “Why didn’t you tell us in the first place?”

                The faunus shrugged.  “Figure I let the Princess here explain herself.”

                _Ah, so this one knows who I am._

                “Will you remove your helm, Princess of Atlas?  I wish to address you directly,” the black-haired woman told her.  “Don’t worry, no harm will come to you while we agree to terms.”

                This sounded reasonable to Weiss.  She slowly dismounted her horse, keeping her eyes on the trio all the while.  She kept by the side of her horse as she unfastened, then removed her helm.

                Even at this distance, Weiss caught the split-second look of shock from the faunus.

                “Wow, she’s a looker Blake!” the dragon said, somehow giving both suggestive winks.

                The woman, Blake – Weiss finally caught her name – ignored her, having taken the moment to recompose herself.  “You wished for a trial by combat?” she asked.

                Weiss nodded.  “If it suits you.  If I am successful against the three of you, will you remove yourselves from this land?”

                “As much as we would like to, we cannot.”

                “Why not?” Weiss asked.

                “We came for the witch Salem.  If you give her to us, then we will depart.”

                “I… I have no say on her.  I have been disinherited and scheduled for execution.”

                Blake’s eyes opened wide.  “So the rumors were true…”

                “You’ve heard?”

                “In passing,” Blake answered with a nod.  “The town we passed three days ago had news of an attempted overthrow, and that a member of the royal family was to be charged with treason.”

                “She’s the one then?” the red-haired woman asked from the side.

                “I am,” Weiss confirmed.  “The only options for me are to die in there or die on the battlefield.  Defeating you might give me a slight chance of hope… but the witch controls my father like no other.  I’m probably dead as soon as I return to the castle.”

                “A death sentence either way,” the dragon rumbled, leaning her head next to Blake.  “I mean, no offense to you, Princess, but you probably have no shot against any of us.  Well, maybe Ruby.”

                “Hey!”

                “Yang,” Blake said, casting a glare at the dragon.  “We will not explore that option.  We won’t fight her.”

                “You won’t?”

                “We won’t?”

                Blake shook her head and smiled.  “Princess of Atlas, I will offer you a third option: join us.”

                “Join you?” Weiss asked.  “For what reason?  What conditions?”

                “The only reason is to live,” Blake explained.  “You know as well as we do how much the witch Salem has corrupted the most just of men, beyond the point of return.  We have also been affected by her, though in an entirely different manner.  I’m afraid there’s no return for your father; we only hope we can return to normal ourselves.

                “As for the conditions, we’ll keep it simple as well: help us defeat your father and the witch, and the throne of Atlas is yours.”

                Weiss nodded.  She glanced away, looking to her horse first, before casting a look behind her, to her home.  Despite everything that has happened to her over the past two years, she would do anything possible to make this city her home again, and to make Atlas a proper kingdom, not one overrun by corruption and evil.  She thought of her father, and how he used to be a good man.  Even before he met the witch, however, he started towards a darker path, forcing the faunus on Atlas into slavery and creating more wealth for himself.  That was probably why the witch cast an easier net over him.

                _Thus, he was corrupted to the point of no return._

                Then, Weiss thought of her sister, and how good it would be to see her again, at their home.  She smiled at the thought.

                She turned back to Blake, the smile still burning on her face.  “I will join you,” she said.

                Blake nodded, but it was then that Weiss noticed the ears twitching on top of her new ally’s head.  They were swiveling around, almost as if…

                “Your ears,” she pointed out.

                “I know,” Blake answered, her hand slowly drifting down to her short sword on her hip.  “I can’t figure it out though.”

                Weiss turned back to Mantle, and finally realized something: the unusually high grass.  Father would never let the valley be overgrown like this, even during the highs of the Atlesian summers.  The last time she overlooked the valley, it was two weeks ago, and the grass was level then.

                _They did this on purpose._

                She hastily drew her sword and smacked her horse away, keeping her view of the field unimpeded.  The attack would be coming from somewhere within the thick, overgrown grass, but she didn’t know where.

                _This was all a trap._

                “Shield bearers, up!” she heard Ruby command.  “Archers, form ranks!”

                “Looks like we’ve walked into something here, Blakey,” she heard the dragon say.

                Blake nodded, then drew her sword and moved forward.  “Princess of Atlas, let’s get you behind our lines.”

                “It’s Weiss,” she told her, glancing back briefly.

                “Weiss it is,” Blake said, and for a moment, Weiss watched the faunus become satisfied with saying the name.  “Come now, let’s – LOOK OUT!”

                Suddenly, Weiss was flung to the side, where she landed on her back.  She quickly reoriented herself, grabbed her sword, and stood, gasping when she looked over to Blake.

                The faunus had two arrows pierced in her chest.

                “Blake!” Weiss quickly ran over, grabbing onto the faunus and gently lowering her down.  “Oh no, oh no!”

                “Princess!” the dragon roared.  “Explained!”

                “Yang…” Blake coughed, a trickle of blood escaping her mouth.  “They were… aiming for her…”

                _He couldn’t even be the hand that killed me._

                “Stay put,” Weiss told her.  She grabbed her helm and linked it back on, then faced the battlefield.  She quickly scanned the grass and found her target, twenty yards ahead.

                “You, dragon!”

                “It’s Yang!”

                “Do you breathe fire?” she asked.

                Weiss could almost see the dragon smile at the question.  “I’m a dragon!  A big scary one at that!”

                “I have a hole for you to smoke out.”  Sword in hand, Weiss activated her Inheritance: a glyph, shaped like a snowflake, formed on the ground, followed by several others, lining up towards one spot on the ground.  She quickly followed that up by attuning her Inheritance with additional magic: ice spikes shot up from each glyph, running along until they reached the spot in the field, destroying a hidden trap door.  Several men flew out of the hole as well.

                “Burn it!” Weiss yelled, and Yang gleefully ran up, reared back, and blew fire and ash deep into the hole, burning flesh and metal alike.  They both heard the screams of the dying men underneath.

                Weiss looked in both directions, seeing similar trap doors in the thick grass.  Mixing her Inheritance with her ice magic, she encased both doors in a frozen layer of ice, trapping the city’s defenders underneath.

                “Incoming!” Ruby yelled from behind them.  The pair looked up: a thick volley of arrows was heading their way.

                “Stay back Princess!” Yang shouted.

                “I have this dragon!” Weiss shouted back.  She deepened her stance briefly, then thrust her sword skyward: a massive glyph appeared over their heads, covering the field back to where Blake was.  The arrows that hit the glyph snapped and shattered, leaving the three of them without any further wounds.

                Weiss dropped the glyph and ran back to Blake.  She dropped to her knees next to Ruby and looked Blake over.

                “She’ll be fine,” Ruby said, though hesitant.  “Right?”

                “I’ll be fine Ruby,” Blake said weakly.  “Don’t talk like I’m not here.”

                “You didn’t have to do that for me,” Weiss told her.  “I’m destined to die.”

                “Princess of Atlas… Weiss… get that drivel out of your head.  I told you to live, and you will do so.”

                Weiss nodded.  She watched as Blake reached one of her hands up to touch her helm covered face.

                “Let me see your face again.”

                Weiss reached up, unclasping the helm, and removing it.  She saw Blake smile.

                “Thank you.  I can take a nap with your beauty in my head.”

                Behind them, several shield bearers came up, along with several medics.  Carefully, they placed Blake onto a stretcher, lifted her up, and evacuated her behind enemy lines.

                Weiss watched her go.  “You know,” Yang said, her head dropping next to the Princess, “you’ve made quite an impression on her.  Never expected that.”

                “I don’t deserve it,” Weiss told her, “but… I won’t let that go in vain.”  She turned back towards Mantle.

                “What’s the plan?” Ruby asked, scanning the walls with them.

                “The gate is the way in.  Aim your catapults there.  Your trebuchets can do damage over the wall and cause chaos.”

                “Are their citizens there?”

                “None that I saw earlier.  They may have been moved.  Then again…”

                _Gone beyond the point of return._

                “And what about us?” Yang asked.

                Weiss looked to Ruby, then back to the dragon.  “Get us on the wall.  We can do some damage up there.”

                Yang smiled, as much as she could as a dragon.  “ARC!”

                They looked back, seeing a young general step forward, shield and sword in hand.  “My lord?”

                Ruby smirked.  “Relax, Jaune.  Why do you do that lord-y stuff anyway?”

                “Proper rearing,” he shrugged.

                “Assault the gate,” Yang informed him.  “You and Nikos are in command.”

                “And what of you two… erm, three?” he asked, noticing Weiss for the first time.

                “We’re storming it ahead of you,” Yang rumbled with delight.

                Jaune saluted, before turning and barking out orders.

                “Climb aboard you two!  It’s time to kill ourselves a witch!”

                “After you, Princess,” Ruby remarked.  Weiss shook her head but climbed up ahead of Ruby all the same.

                Once they got situated, Yang launched herself into the sky, swooping high over the battlefield before directing herself towards the walls of Mantle.  Ruby slid back on Yang’s body, and Weiss watched as the woman transformed herself into a large, black wolf, complete with red tuffs of hair along her head and spine.

                _They truly are the Beasts of Vale…_

                She thought then to Blake, hoping that she was safe, hoping that she would survive.  She would have many questions for her, but for now, as Yang shouted to get ready and Ruby offered Weiss a ride down, she had a witch to kill, a father to condemn, and a city to liberate.

 

* * *

 

 

                The first sounds that Blake heard when she woke up was Yang talking.  She was quieter than she normally was, probably to make sure that she didn’t wake her friend up.  It sounded like Yang was talking to a nurse, but it was hard to figure out.  The other voice was unfamiliar to her, which was new, since she was able to recognize every voice in their army.

                The first feeling she encountered upon waking up as well was how comfortable she felt.  This… was an entirely new feeling; having zero comforts while marching north – “We fight with the army, we eat with the army, we sleep the same way as the army,” she lectured her comrades once or twice – made her realize that she was in a brand-new location.  The bed, she presumed, was soft.  She felt herself sink into the mattress quite well.  The pillow was a nice feature too: feather filled and fluffed for maximum coverage.

                The first pain she felt was a few moments after waking, as she attempted to stretch.  Her chest stretched out, pulling at the stitches that held her wounds closed.  She snared, which was unexpected.  Normally, she wouldn’t snarl, unless…

                “Ah, glad to see our panther is alive and well,” Yang quipped, coming up along the side of the bed.

                “How long have I been asleep for?” Blake asked.  She licked her nose, relishing the feeling.

                “Just a day.  Not long enough for you to lose all sense of time.”

                “I see.”  She glanced down, fiddling with her legs.  She didn’t like the feeling of the bed spread covering her hind legs, so she moved to kick them off.

                A sharp pain hit her chest and she stopped immediately.

                “She keeps this up she’ll never get out of this room,” the other voice said.

                “It’s fine nurse, really,” Yang told her.  “I’ll keep her calm.”

                “Fine… shall I send word to the Queen?” the nurse asked.

                Yang shrugged.  “She’ll be glad to hear that Blake’s awake.  I know she’s busy though.”

                “I’ll send word then.”  A few moments later, the footsteps of the nurse faded away.

                “I take it we won?” Blake asked.  She wanted to transform back to her human self and sit up, but it felt nice just laying here like this.  Her beast form was doing wonders at the moment anyway.

                “Oh, we won all right.  The city was ours by nightfall.”

                “How?” she asked.

                Yang smiled, and Blake dreaded what the next words out of her mouth was going to be: “Your Princess is something else, let me tell you.”

                Of course, it would be about Weiss.  She could feel her cheeks burning as she thought of her.

                “I dropped her and Ruby on top of the walls, to let them create confusion and thin out the defenses for the towers.  Ruby we know is unmerciful, but Weiss… man, she was cold and calculated.  She told me later that she regretted taking as many lives as she did, but she had to send a message to the Atlesian defenders.  Her Inheritance and ice magic made sure of that.

                “Arc had a bit of a hard time – they made more tunnels than expected – but he flushed them out and got the towers to the walls with minimal damage.  They were able to storm the walls and push to the gates.  The catapults buckled them, and our men inside did the rest.  Once they were down, we got to fighting in the courtyards and the streets.  Weiss killed their commanding officer, and shortly after that, the defenders surrendered or fled.  It was easier than expected, really.”

                Blake snorted through her nose.  “What of the king?”

                Yang threw a thumb over her shoulder.  “Surrendered without a fight.  He’s down in the dungeons right now, getting a taste of his own medicine.  Weiss wants to try him for crimes against the crown, but I’m not sure if she wants him executed.”  She grabbed a cup and drank from it, before continuing: “I wouldn’t mind, but then again, I’m not Weiss.”

                “And the witch Salem?” Blake asked, knowing the answer was going to be a bad one.

                Yang shook her head.  “Looks like she escaped.  Don’t know how, to tell you the truth.  The city was built into a mountain, and we didn’t find any passes that led through them once we occupied it.  I don’t want to say she disappeared into thin air, but…”

                The panther smirked, as much as she could: “She disappeared into thin air.  Just our luck.”

                “You said it, not me,” Yang told her.  “How much longer do you think we have?”

                “We probably have a good two or three years left before the curse really takes hold.  Until then, we just have to keep searching.”  Blake shifted in bed, being careful this time to not stretch her wounds.  “Do I really need to keep these stitches in?” she whined.

                “Long enough to make sure you can get on your feet again,” called a familiar voice from the doorway.  “Or paws, I’m not really sure.”

                Blake rolled her head to look: in the doorway was Weiss, though this time less a Princess of Atlas and more a Queen of Atlas.  She wore an ornate crown on her head, filled with a variety of jewels and brushed with gold.  Her dress was blue with white trim along the sleeves and covered every inch of her body except for her hands and head.  Blake couldn’t help but stare at the beauty before her.

                “Good afternoon to you, dear Queen of Atlas,” Yang said, bowing lower than what was proper.

                “Dragon,” Weiss replied nonchalant.  Both chuckled at that, which confused Blake greatly.

                “I’m missing something, aren’t I?”

                “Heat of the battle thing,” Yang answered.  “Speaking of heat…”

                “Don’t you start, heathen!” Weiss yelled, her cheeks turning red.

                Yang raised her hands.  “Fine, I’ll hold my tongue.  The cat here would probably tear it to shreds anyway.”  She scratched her friend’s chin before moving around the bed and towards the door.  “I’ll leave you two alone to talk.”

                Weiss stopped her for a moment.  “Thank you, Yang.  You’re a good friend.”

                She shrugged.  “It’s what I’m good at.  Just ask Blake after you’re done kissing each other.”

                “DRAGON!”

                “Bye guys!” the blonde warrior shouted as she ran from the room.

                Blake watched the scene unfold and conclude, first with confusion but now with morbid curiosity.  “Truth be told, I didn’t expect you two to get along so quickly,” she said.  She watched Weiss close the door behind her.

                “Yang is… well, boorish, really,” Weiss said, pulling a chair up to the bed and sitting beside Blake.

                “She’s a good person at heart, once you really get to know her,” Blake offered.

                “Oh I know.  She just has a way of getting under my skin.”

                Blake smiled, as well as she could as a panther.  “You’re officially the Queen now?” she asked.

                “As of this morning, yes.  They were in quite the hurry,” Weiss explained.  Blake watched her get comfortable in the chair, then slowly reach out to touch her head.  “Is this okay?” the Queen asked.

                “Yes,” Blake purred.  “I can’t transform back into my human form right now, or rather, it wouldn’t be good for me to do so.”

                “How come?”

                “It helps with the wounds,” Blake informed her, stretching a bit more in the bed.  “Probably one benefit of this curse, really.”

                Weiss nodded.  She kept her ministrations on Blake’s head light and soft.  “I wanted to ask you about this curse.  What did she do to the three of you?”

                “Becoming beasts was the main thrust of it,” Blake started.  “We are able to shape shift at will between what I guess are our… chosen forms?  Mine made the most sense, being a faunus, though Yang and Ruby were stretches.  It gave us incredible strength and agility, both in our animal forms and our human bodies.”

                “So you could have dodged those arrows?” Weiss asked.

                “Not to make you think this is your fault, but I could have caught those arrows if I were better focused.”

                “I see,” Weiss said solemnly.  “I had no chance against you at all…”

                Blake frowned, as best she could.  “None.  And it would have only brought sadness if you had been forced to fight us.”

                The Queen nodded.  “Still, the beast forms are a good thing.  What’s the curse part of this?”

                “The curse… the curse accelerated our aging.  Our hope is that by killing the witch Salem, or at least capturing her, we can get the curse lifted from us.  We’re running out of time though.”

                “I heard you say you have two or three years left.”

                “Yes, we do,” Blake told her.

                “And what happens after that?” Weiss asked.

                Blake looked into Weiss’s eyes as she spoke:

                “We won’t be capable of fighting anymore.  All told, we have five years left before we’re all dead.”


End file.
